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Welcome to the March 2014 issue of Network News, the Supportive Housing Network of New York's monthly e-newsletter. In this issue, you'll find stories on our upcoming advocacy day in Albany, our annual meeting last month, a new report on the NY/NY III Agreement, the federal budget and much moreAs always, we welcome story ideas and tips for future issues. Thanks for reading!
Pres. Obama releases executive budget
Includes substantial increase to McKinney-Vento grants
President Obama released his budget request for the 2015 fiscal year this week, and it includes a 2.6% total increase for the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The budget, if passed, would begin to undo the damage to HUD programs caused by sequestration.

A key highlight from this budget is a 14% increase to the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Grant program. This increase would bring the program to over $2.4 billion, a level sufficient to cover all existing contracts as well as some new projects. HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan recently acknowledged that the difficult budgets of the past two years have prevented HUD from achieving its goal of ending chronic homelessness by 2015, but he has renewed the commitment to achieve that goal by the end of 2017.

Various other rental assistance programs also fare well in the executive budget. New vouchers for veterans, seniors and people with disabilities are included, along with full funding for the Section 8 program. Proposed funding for Project Based Section 8 vouchers would see a decrease, but this is due to a welcome move to fund the program on a calendar year basis. Stabilizing this fund will do much to improve investor confidence in Project Based-funded supportive housing.

For a full breakdown of President Obama's proposed HUD budget, including a table with all major supportive housing programs, see our full post at Network Newsfeed:
 
Steven Banks to lead NYC HRA
Mayor de Blasio appoints longtime advocate for top post
Steven Banks delivers remarks after being appointed the Commissioner of the NYC Human Resources Administration. Photo credit: New York Daily News.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has announced the final social service agency appointment of his administration.

On February 28, the mayor named Steven Banks the new Commissioner of the Human Resources Administration (HRA). One of the city's most prominent public interest lawyers, Mr. Banks has served as Attorney-in-Chief at the Legal Aid Society since 2004 and has been with the organization since 1981.

"I always dreamed that Steve would work inside government," says Laura Jervis, Executive Director of the West Side Federation for Senior and Supportive Housing. "His values, his passion for justice, his understanding of the plight of under-resourced New Yorkers combined with his fine legal mind will advance the transformation of our City into a place where equity is enjoyed by all. Who knew that dreams really can come true?"

Mr. Banks managed a staff of 1,900 at Legal Aid and was responsible for all aspects of the organization's criminal, juvenile rights and civil programs. He is credited with helping reach a landmark settlement with the city in 2008 over its treatment of homeless people, which resulted in the establishment of a permanent enforceable right to shelter for homeless families in New York City.

"Given the primary responsibility of all levels of government to serve the poorest, the youngest and eldest and most disadvantaged, we can imagine no wiser and more experienced public servant for the City of New York than Steve Banks," says Broadway Housing Communities Executive Director Ellen Baxter. 
 
You can read our full coverage on Commissioner Banks' appointment at Network Newsfeed:
 
Network releases new report on NY/NY III
Interviews, focus groups reveal the success of a landmark supportive housing agreement
The Network has released a new report on the New York/New York III Supportive Housing Agreement, the landmark 2005 commitment to create 9,000 new units of supportive housing in 10 years.

The report, available here, synthesizes findings from interviews with more than 140 members of the supportive housing community. Taking Stock of the New York/New York III Supportive Housing Agreement: A Community View of the Achievements and Challenges of Implementing the Nation's Largest Supportive Housing Initiative offers an in-depth look at the initiative and explores key areas for growth and improvement for the next great partnership between New York City and State to end homelessness.

"Taking Stock confirms what many of us have known for years: That the New York/New York III Agreement has been a phenomenal engine to house formerly homeless New Yorkers," says Network Executive Director Ted Houghton. "We hope this report will serve as an aid to the supportive housing community, our government partners and other stakeholders as we seek to build upon NY/NY III with a successor agreement. After more than 30 interviews and seven focus groups, we're confident in calling NY/NY III a resounding public policy success."

The Network interviewed an array of stakeholders for this project, including representatives from all 10 of the government signatories of the agreement, supportive housing and shelter providers, NY/NY III tenants, advocates and private sector partners. The goal of the project was to provide a platform for this diverse group of stakeholders to offer feedback on the successes and challenges of the initiative and to elicit their guidance on how best to design future supportive housing agreements. 
 
To read our full coverage on Taking Stock, head over to our blog Network Newsfeed:

New internship honors Alan Epstein
Interns to explore supportive housing development in NYC
Alan Epstein accepts his Private Sector Partner of the Year award at the Network's 2008 Awards Gala: (left to right) Bill Traylor, Alan Epstein and Ted Houghton.
The Network has created a new internship program in honor of Alan Epstein, a dear friend and board member who passed away in 2013.

As a partner at Hirschen Singer & Epstein, Mr. Epstein was a longtime champion of New York's supportive housing community. His work impacted the lives of thousands of tenants, advocates and housing providers. Starting this summer, the Alan Epstein Internship in Supportive Housing will allow one law school student or recent graduate each year to follow in his footsteps.

This internship program is possible thanks to an outpouring of donations made following Mr. Epstein's death in September. Among the many organizations and individuals to offer donations were the Richman Group, Hirschen Singer & Epstein, the Hudson Companies, Dunn Development Corporation, Mega Contracting and Chicago Title Insurance Company.

The Network will begin accepting applications for this internship within the next few weeks.

"Alan was a brilliant strategist, an energetic advocate, an exceptionally practical policy wonk who's legal work vastly improved the lives of tens of thousands of vulnerable New Yorkers," said Bill Traylor, Chair of the Network's Board of Directors. "If this internship produces just one more Alan, then it will have provided extraordinary service to the city and vastly exceeded expectations."

"Alan was the rarest of people -- excellent at everything he did and humble for every moment he was doing it," said Alan Koffman, the Director of Affordable Housing at the Hudson Companies. "I dearly miss his friendship and advice, and this noble industry misses Alan's tenacity and advocacy for giving more New Yorkers the same sense of home that Alan created for his family, friends, colleagues and everyone he encountered. We are honored to support this internship and hope it will inspire law students to pursue a career in Alan's memory with a similar dedication and commitment to supportive housing." 
 
To learn much more about this new internship, follow the below link to Network Newsfeed. If you would like to donate funding for this internship program, please follow this link to donate online. 
 
Network holds annual member meeting
Elects Board of Directors, unveils new internship program
Speakers at the Network's 2014 annual meeting (left to right): Rachel Miller, Bill Traylor and Ted Houghton.
The Network hosted old friends, announced changes to its Board of Directors and unveiled a very special new internship at its annual meeting on February 27.

More than 150 members of our community gathered at Scandinavia House in Manhattan for the event. Our 2014 annual meeting offered our colleagues a chance to reminisce, network and look toward the upcoming year -- all over drinks and hors d'oeuvres from Project Renewal's Comfort Foods.

To browse a slideshow of recently-opened supportive housing residences featured at the meeting, click here. A slideshow of 100 images from the year in supportive housing can be viewed here.

This year's event marked several changes to the Network's Board of Directors. 
 
The Network said both farewell and congratulations last week to Shola Olatoye, the new Chairwoman of the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA). Before her appointment into the de Blasio administration, Ms. Olatoye was a Vice President at Enterprise Community Partners and a member of the Network's Board of Directors.

"Shola is just the perfect choice for NYCHA," Network Executive Director Ted Houghton said at the event. "She knows about development, she knows about vulnerable families, she knows about New York City, she knows about neighborhoods. The mayor is so lucky to have her, and we're lucky to have her." 
 
For a full recap of the most-attended annual meeting in the Network's history, follow the link below to Network Newsfeed:

Network advocacy day set for March 18
Network, partners to advocate for key supportive housing programs ahead of final New York State budget
Participants of a February 11 advocacy day in Albany co-hosted by the Network and Homeless Services United (HSU). The Network and HSU will host another advocacy day on Tuesday, March 18. 
The Network will hold one last, big advocacy push in Albany on March 18 to impact vital supportive housing programs in the New York State budget. 

Last month, our members joined Homeless Services United to hold nearly 60 meetings with members of the New York State Assembly, Senate and their staff. We used these meetings to advocate for increased funding for homeless prevention and supportive housing programs in the 2014-15 state fiscal year budget.

The Network and HSU have organized another advocacy day, Tuesday, March 18, to offer our community the chance to advocate for these issues one last time before the state budget passes on or before April 1. For more information or to RSVP, please email the Network's Maclain Berhaupt. 

This year, we've focused our advocacy efforts on four specifics areas. First, we hope to achieve an increase to the NYS Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA)'s Homeless Housing and Prevention services budget, which funds both the NYS Supportive Housing Program (NYSSHP) and Solutions to End Homelessness Programs (STEHP). Second, we hope to save vulnerable State homeless programs threatened by sequestration. To do this, we've called on New York State to establish an emergency supplemental pool of funding at OTDA to help mitigate cuts to over 50 programs across the state.

To learn more about advocacy targets and how you can get involved in our efforts this month, head over to Network Newsfeed:
 
Son House Apartments opens in Rochester
Project provides housing, services to high cost-Medicaid users
Partners, tenants and others gather to celebrate the grand opening of Son House Apartments in Rochester on February 24.
The first supportive housing residence for high-cost Medicaid recipients to open in New York State had its grand opening on February 24 in Rochester. Called Son House Apartments in honor of the legendary blues musician Son House, who both made Rochester his home for many years and experienced homelessness, the residence will provide housing and supports to 21 individuals coping with both homelessness and medical or behavioral disabilities.

Son House Apartments was developed by Network member Providence Housing Development Corporation with the Office of Temporary and Disability (OTDA) Homeless Housing and Assistance Program Medicaid Redesign Team (MRT) Capital Funds Program. To date, HHAP has awarded MRT funding to six projects across New York.

The opening featured a number of luminaries, including NYS Homes and Community Renewal (HCR) Commissioner Darryl C. Towns, NYS Senator Joe Robach, NYS Homeless Housing and Assistance Corporation (HHAC) Vice President Brett Hebner and Rochester Mayor Lovely A. Warren.
 
"The true measure of city's greatness must include a reckoning of how its citizens treat their most vulnerable neighbors," Mayor Warren said. "As a place of both shelter and support for our homeless residents, the Son House Apartments project is helping Rochester rise to yet another level of greatness."

OTDA Commissioner Kristen Proud added, "We are pleased to partner with Providence Housing Development Corporation in this important endeavor to develop 21 supportive housing units. These are the first units to have been developed with Medicaid Redesign Team housing funds administered by OTDA. We look forward to the positive results in the lives of the tenants and in terms of savings in public resources." 
 
For our full article on Son House's joyous grand opening, head over to Network Newsfeed:
 
Network members receive funding to house homeless families
$1.75 million allocated to five housing nonprofits
In New York City, 70 homeless families will soon have their own supportive housing apartment thanks to a funding announcement made last month by Governor Andrew Cuomo.

The State will award $1.75 million to five supportive housing nonprofits scattered across NYC. All five nonprofit providers are members of the Supportive Housing Network: Fortune Society, Odyssey House, Project Hospitality, Samaritan Village and Women In Need. This funding will support the creation of 70 units of supportive housing for homeless families struggling with an addiction to drugs or alcohol.

"Samaritan Village is pleased to be a recipient of funding from OASAS for supportive housing," said Douglas Apple, Executive Vice President/CEO of Samaritan Village. "We are excited for the opportunity to provide high quality supportive housing options to clients transitioning out of our residential substance abuse treatment programs.

These funds are available through the NYS Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS). They mark the latest round of funding through the New York/New York III Supportive Housing Agreement, a ten-year partnership between New York City and State to create 9,000 new units of supportive housing.

Head over to Network Newsfeed to read our full story on these awards:
 
HIV/AIDS rent cap proposed in City, State budgets
Major victory for HIV/AIDS, supportive housing advocates
Advocates from the HIV/AIDS and low-income housing communities are celebrating a long-awaited policy victory in New York City.

On February 20, Governor Andrew Cuomo released his 30-day amendments for the 2014-2015 fiscal year budget. The amendments include a correction to a longstanding problem with the primary rental assistance program for people living with HIV/AIDS in New York City. The governor proposes to place a 30% cap on the amount of money clients of the NYC HIV/AIDS Services Administration (HASA) must pay in rent. Heretofore there hasn't been any cap, leaving poor people with HIV/AIDS paying the majority of their income in rent and leaving almost nothing for food, medicine, etc. 

This rent cap -- advocated for years by our friends at VOCAL, Housing Works and other allies -- represents a major victory for low-income and formerly homeless individuals living with HIV/AIDS in NYC. NYC is home to 12,000 individuals with HIV/AIDS, many of whom pay up to 70 percent of their disability income toward rent.

The 30-day amendment follows NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio's budget proposal earlier last month, which also included a 30% rent cap for HIV/AIDS tenants. New York City will pay for roughly $17 million, or 70 percent of the costs associated with this partnership; New York State will pay for the remaining 30 percent, or $9 million.

This policy fix will help prevent thousands of low-income New Yorkers from becoming homeless. We congratulate Housing Works, VOCAL and all our partners who've been on the front lines of this issue for years, and we applaud Mayor de Blasio and Gov. Cuomo for their action!

For a press release on all the governor's 30-day amendments, see here.
In This Issue
Federal Budget
Steven Banks
NY/NY III Report
Alan Epstein
OASAS Funding
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Upcoming Events

The Network will co-sponsor several events in March and April with the Center for Urban Community Services. These will include two full-day trainings on March 12: Housing based case management in Manhattan and understanding compulsive hoarding in Brooklyn, as well as a training on trauma informed care on April 1. Head over to our website to learn more about all of our upcoming events, including our big conference in June!

News Clips

CBS aired an extensive piece on the 100,000 Homes campaign on February 10 as part of its "60 Minutes" broadcast. The story has been shared all across the Internet, from social media posts to popular sites such as Upworthy. Click here to see the video, a behind-the-scenes clip on story and a similar "60 Minutes" piece on supportive housing from 1997. 
 
The Network's own Ted Houghton appeared on New York 1 yesterday to discuss the Domino Sugar development project in Brooklyn and affordable housing in New York City. He appeared alongside Ellen Baxter of Broadway Housing Communities. You can watch the video here (note: a Time Warner Cable ID is required to view this clip). 

The co-founders of the Housing First! coalition published a letter to the editor in the New York Times on February 14. The letter responds to a February 7 NYT editorial on Mayor de Blasio's affordable housing plan. You can read both the editorial and the letter to the editor here.
 
Mark Horvath, the founder of Invisible People, delivered a TEDx Talk last month on ending homelessness. His presentation included a significant discussion of supportive housing. You can view the video here.
 
Governing magazine ran a column on the need for supportive housing for needy families on February 20. The piece was written by a senior adviser at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. You can read it here.

Member Updates

Concern for Independent Living has received a three-year accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities International (CARF). CARF-accreditation is a hallmark of excellence for service providers. To learn more about this honor, see this article in the New York Nonprofit Press
 
The Network would like to apologize for an error that ran in the Member Updates section of last month's Network News. That issue stated that Pratt Area Community Council serves as the services provider of the Navy Green supportive housing residence. Pratt was in fact the developer of the residence. Brooklyn Community Housing and Services is the services provider. We sincerely apologize for this mistake.

Comings and Goings

Barbara Poppe has announced her departure from the US Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH). Ms. Poppe has served as Executive Director of USICH, which oversees 19 federal agencies that touch on issues of housing and homelessness, since 2009. During her tenure, USICH launched Opening Doors, the nation's first comprehensive strategy to end homelessness. Ms. Poppe also delivered the keynote address at the Network's New York State Supportive Housing Conference in 2010. Her last day at USICH will be March 7. It's been an enormous pleasure to work with her over the past four years at USICH, and we hope to stay connected in the years to come.

USICH has also announced Ms. Poppe's successor: Laura Green Zeilinger, the agency's current Deputy Director. Ms. Zeilinger is an attorney who has worked at USICH since 2011. Prior to joining the agency, she served as the Deputy Director for Program Operations at the District of Columbia's Department of Homeless Services (DHS). She has also acted as the DC Mayor's liaison between DHS and the Office of Disability Rights. She will assume the role of USICH Executive Director on March 7. Ms. Zeilinger is also a former presenter at our annual conference. We look forward to working with her in this very exciting new role.

Michael Stoller has stepped down as the Executive Director of the Human Services Council of New York (HSC). Mr. Stoller has acted as head of HSC since 2003. It's been our honor work with him on a number of campaigns and issues over the last 11 years. Mr. Stoller will soon begin work as Chief of Government and External Affairs at the Jewish Association Serving the Aging (JASA). We wish him nothing but the best with his new career move.

HSC has also announced that Allison Sesso will take over as the organization's new Executive Director. Ms. Sesso has acted as HSC's Deputy Executive Director since 2003. She has led numerous campaigns at HSC, including the "Who Cares? I Do" initiative to raise awareness on human services issues and negotiations with government on cost of living adjustments (COLAs) for nonprofit workers. Ms. Sesso is a stellar advocate with an expert understanding of the budget process. Though we're sad to see Mr. Stoller leave HSC, we're more than confident that Ms. Sesso will serve as an outstanding leader at HSC.